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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26176498">Rosy Tones</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparksOfDesire/pseuds/SparksOfDesire'>SparksOfDesire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Color Scheme of Your Heart [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown &amp; King</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex Brightman will forever be my Beetlejuice, Although Beej is v-bad at them, Anal Fingering, And feels, Beej is v-inexperienced when it comes to relationships, Beetlejuice Has Mood Ring Hair (Beetlejuice), Beetlejuice Needs a Hug, Beetlejuice has a heart, Beetlejuice's Childhood was sad y'all, Bottom Beetlejuice (Is the best Beetlejuice), Breaking the Fourth Wall (Duh), But he is also v-soft for the Maitlands, Caretakers!Maitlands, Daddy Kink, Daddy and Mommy issues, Dom/sub Undertones, Established Relationship, Explicit Sexy Times in Chapter 1, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Insecurity, Juno's A+ parenting, Listen Beej has a lot of issues, Little Space, Little!Beej, Lydia and Beetlejuice are best friends, Mommy Kink, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, OT3, Praise Kink, The Maitlands are everyone's parents, The Maitlands are v-protective of him, They love him so much and I love them, Threesome - F/M/M, and a bit of angst, beetlelands, blowjob, musical canon, takes place after the events of the musical</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:16:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,516</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26176498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparksOfDesire/pseuds/SparksOfDesire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The beginning of the often strange, always loving, and suprisingly soft age-play dynamic between the Maitlands and their ghost with the most.<br/>**<br/>Adam looked at their entwined hands- the pale, colorful hand with the neon nail polish a stark contrast to his own rough, calloused one. Like this, it was shockingly easy to fall into the role he only barely began to understand. He didn’t know exactly what it was… but… it settled like a blanket around his dead heart.<br/>“I’m proud of you, Beej,” he added, almost as an afterthought.<br/>“We are,” Barbara chimed in, coming up behind them and taking Beej’s other hand in hers.<br/>The demon’s eyes grew comically wide. “Really? Nobody’s ever been proud of me.” He paused, as if thoughtful, and produced an extra arm from… somewhere, to touch his chest where his heart would have been.<br/>“Feels warm. Here.”<br/>**<br/>Contains Mommy/Daddy Kink (Chapter 1) and Non-Sexual Age-Play (Chapter 2)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Color Scheme of Your Heart [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900939</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bright Magenta (Contains Smut)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a non-sexual age-play fic, with the occasional daddy/mommy kink sprinkled into the mix. No sexy times when characters are in headspace. If you just want the fluffy non-sexual age-play, there is a heads up on every chapter that contains sexy times, and they aren't plot essential, so don't hesitate to skip if they make you uncomfortable!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Like most things concerning Beetlejuice, it started out as something sexual.</p><p>The ghost with the most (who was technically a demon, but ‘the demon with all the semen’ just didn’t have such a nice ring to it) and the golden ghostly couple had, shortly after Beej returned to the Deetz/Maitland household, to the great surprise of nobody whatsoever started ‘dating’. ‘Dating’ in the vastest sense of the term, since there weren’t really any dates involved- that one was kind of pointless with 2/3 of the date not being able to leave the house, and the remaining 1/3 only slowly coming to realize what exactly ‘dating’ meant.</p><p>Things could be more ideal, but they made do. So, there was the occasional ‘debate on principles’ where something else “horrifically hilarious” (quote) about Beetlejuice’s upbringing and or former hook-ups was revealed. Unsurprisingly, nobody found it hilarious.</p><p>(“The Maitlands are a tough crowd these days,” the demon grumbled to himself, “and maybe this fanfiction author really isn’t all that funny and is <em>now</em> dragging me down with her. Out of all the theatre nerds with an author complex, I just had to get the unfunny one, didn’t I?” Adam and Barbara shared a look over that but voted to ignore it. Like that time when they asked him about his sudden return and he just waved his hand in a patronizing gesture like that was distinctly old news by this point and mumbled something about having a whole AO3 tag dedicated to that trope).</p><p> </p><p>Roughly six months into the <em>thing</em>- give or take, time was a strange concept when you were dead- they had something good going for them, all three parties agreed. Beej came to understand basic forms of human decency, they talked about a lot of painful and depressing shit, there was trust, and a heaping, almost disgusting amount of mind-blowing sex.</p><p>Things like stamina and gag-reflexes really weren’t a problem anymore once you’ve kicked the bucket, so the Maitlands sex-(after)life celebrated a flourishing renaissance with a certain green-haired bastard as the leading figure. Despite his (quote) “horrifically hilarious” past experiences, Beej turned out to be an attentive and sinfully (ha!) good lover. It was a constant flow of giving and taking these days in the Maitland bedroom.</p><p>Beetlejuice could give Barbara and Adam things they didn’t know they <em>craved</em> until he presented them with skill- dirty, sexy, things which made even their erotic fantasies when they were still alive look really, really vanilla. Maitlands 2.0<em>h</em>, indeed.</p><p>In return, the couple introduced Beej to concepts such as care and love during their sexual encounters, which slowly came to replace the mindset of power and control which the demon had been ingrained to believe as the main motivational factors for sex. One would imagine that a lewd guy like Beetlejuice would be keen on his own satisfaction and just taking, taking, taking; when in fact the opposite seemed to be the case.</p><p>Instead of having to coax their demonic third to give, he had a much bigger issue with being the one who received sexual attention. It had taken months for him to be comfortable enough to not be the active, domineering force in the bedroom, and let his two lovers satisfy him in their slow, gentle (vanilla) sort of way. Everything about this- about them- was still a work in progress.</p><p> </p><p>Yet, this right here, Adam mused, with his mouth full of a very hard erection and two of his fingers almost buried to the tilt inside a certain demon, this might be his favorite version of Beej during sex. Sure, he could not deny the exhilarating rush of having such a powerful being as their demon taking control over the situation, speaking of unspeakable things, doing unbelievable things with them until the world was completely drained out by an electric white pleasure.</p><p>But.</p><p>This was different.</p><p>There was something almost even more exhilarating about having such a powerful being as their demon completely giving up control, dropping the act, letting himself be soft and vulnerable under their gentle ministrations. These moments like now, when the deathly pale skin held the hint of a flush that spread all the way down to his heavily scarred chest (how that even was possible without blood circulation, they had mused once, to which the demon had replied flatly with “fanfiction logic”) and his hair formed a whirlwind of bright magenta. Like now, when these dark amber eyes were shut tightly in pleasure and this loud, scratchy voice whispered quiet moans almost hesitantly.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t often that their dynamic switched so profoundly, but Adam had the suspicion it always came as a little relief to all parties involved. When Beetlejuice 2.0 made an appearance (not very often considering the- I cannot stress this enough- heaping amounts of sex they’ve had, maybe a handful of times) it was usually like this.</p><p>The demon leaned heavily against Barbara, who caressed his neck and chest, his head resting against her collarbone, his hands clasped against her lush thighs that sprawled on either side of him gracefully. His legs were spread too, enough that Adam could nestle securely between them and then there was just <em>this</em>, until his back would arch, and he would come with the sweetest noise either of them had ever heard.</p><p> </p><p>The first time they had done <em>this</em>, he himself had come just from the noise, without even touching himself. He had never given a blowjob before and was taken by the heady pleasure and power coursing through his veins the moment he had suckled the crown into his mouth and Beetlejuice - before all high and mighty, generously offering to be a patient teacher, as he was, quote “the best cocksucker in all the land” (not that Adam would disagree) - fell completely apart. Barbara had jumped in and given him helpful and unbelievably erotic pointers throughout the whole event. When Adam had traced- unprompted- two fingers up the demon’s crack until he found the twitching pucker, just pressing against the entrance until it gave way ever so slightly, Beej had made The Noise and came all the way down his throat. Ever since then, Adam considered blowjobs probably one of his top three sexual pastimes.</p><p> </p><p>They were well on their way to the culmination of the main event, for they had been at it what felt like centuries, their own arousal a dull itching in the back of their minds, their sole focus on the demon between them. This was about caring more than it was about sexual satisfaction.</p><p>“God, Bee. You’re so gorgeous like this - so lovely, our lovely demon, we <em>adore</em> you…” Barbara’s soft stream of praise was a harsh contrast to the almost obscene slurping noises Adam made during his very enthusiastic blowjob and another harsh contrast to the needy sounds falling from the demon’s lips.</p><p>Whenever Barbara started talking like this, Beetlejuice’s release wouldn’t be far off, for he thrived on praise in such a fundamental way that it was almost-but only almost- sad how much he <em>craved</em> it.</p><p>And the sad thing wasn’t the fact that he liked it- and maybe it wasn’t a sad thing at all, but more like a thing to be angry about- anyhow, the troubling thing was how different it was to they knew he had been treated. If Beetlejuice had a heart (something he vehemently denied, and all three of them knew was just for show), it would be big and soft, and littered with metaphorical and not so metaphorical stab wounds. There were nights when Adam couldn’t bear to look at the big, jagged scar in the middle of his lover’s chest, for the guilt of knowing that they had taken part of putting it there was so fresh in his conscious. (Beej said it was fine now, but the hint of purple at the edges of his hair always betrayed him.)</p><p> </p><p>As assumed, a pearl of precome rolled onto Adam’s tongue while the demon listened to all the things, he knew he wasn’t, but promised himself he could <em>try to be</em> for them (things like beautiful, and important, and <em>good</em>).</p><p>Adam swallowed it gently, not in the least bothered by the taste since taste buds obviously didn’t mix with the whole ‘being dead thing’. And the texture of it was not unpleasant, and it was so warm and so strangely alive that it exhilarated Adam more than it grossed him out. He buried his nose against Beej’s pubic hair (also color-changing) and inhaled, despite him obviously also not being able to smell anything but enjoying the way the fine pink hairs tickled his nostrils, nonetheless.</p><p>He enjoyed the way the body of his lover was different than his wife’s- soft in places where she was hard, chubby in places where she was toned, edged in places where she was round. Otherworldly in places where they were still so distinctly human (They had spent a whole afternoon, once, just in amused glee over the fact that he didn’t have a bellybutton although that was, undebatable the silliest use of their eternity worth of free time).</p><p>He loved and desired them both - and one look at Barbara’s bright eyes twinkling right back at him, confirmed him that she was thinking about the exact same thing.</p><p> </p><p>Falling in love with Beetlejuice might have been the most reckless, nonsensical, and risky thing they did in their lives and afterlives. But boy, did it feel <em>good</em>.</p><p>The day they had first said it, almost without thinking, since affection came to easily to them, Beetlejuice had vanished to the roof and pondered about the mean prank they were pulling on him because they knew he had a crush on them (the irony of ‘having a crush’ on someone you’re in a relationship with was totally lost to the inexperienced demon).</p><p>Upon clarifying it wasn’t a prank, that they were actually very much in love with him, Beetlejuice had promptly started to cry (in a “very sexy and totally not at all OCC way” as he would later claim) and did only stop because Lydia came out on the roof to “rescue the dying bat she had listened to struggling for hours now”; and he only stopped to be offended that his BFFFF forever thought he sounded ugly while bawling.</p><p>They’ve come a long way since then. Beetlejuice even said it back sometimes, when he was having a particularly good day and forgot that he had been instilled with the belief that he was unable to love and be loved in return.  Most of the time, though, Beetlejuice said nothing at all, because talking about feelings and shit was very hard, and he was very bad at it. His hair color usually did the talking for him.</p><p> </p><p>Adam looked at the plane of his lover’s body- the twitch in his thighs and the swell of his belly, the dark pink treasure trail, the furrowed brows and the bitten lips, the head resting against his wife’s beautiful round breasts - and he was filled with such a surge of profound affection that his erection gave a little twitch. Barbara watched him and smiled, bringing a hand to the demon’s hair, lifting his head until she could whisper against his temple between kisses.</p><p>“Look at him, Bee. Look at <em>how he looks at you</em>.”</p><p>And, soft and pliant like he was in those moments, the demon complied, catching Adam’s gaze through half-lidden amber eyes. Adam smiled back at him as much as he could with a cock in his mouth, the corners of his eyes crinkling.</p><p>The demon’s walls tightened around his fingers, which gently prodded his prostate on every second or third trust – not enough to make him come, but enough to let the arousal simmer low and warm in his belly. Adam traced the stretched rim with his thumb just as Barbara massaged the tender erect buds of Beetlejuice’s nipples, both actions pushing the unnecessary air right out of their lover’s lungs.</p><p>He let out a low and needy sound, his thick thighs quivering in anticipation as he spread them wider, urging Adam deeper inside. The ghost indulged him, crooking his fingers just so, tongue tracing the ridges of the head. More precum gushed from the slit, and Adam lapped at it to catch it.</p><p>Beetlejuice gasped and scrambled for Adam’s hand resting against his thigh, gripping it tightly. The ghost gave him a little squeeze and intwined their fingers. It was sweet little displays of affection like this that Beetlejuice tease them for relentlessly, although they all knew that he loved them the most.</p><p>Barbara was stroking and pulling at his magenta locks, whispering words of encouragement – about how good he was, how good they <em>both</em> were, how sexy Adam looked with a cock in his mouth. Her soft-breathy bedroom voice, at this point so familiar and yet always exciting, warmed Adam at his very core. God, how he loved them.</p><p>Both of them.</p><p>So much.</p><p> </p><p>And then, <em>it</em> happened.</p><p>It was quiet, not more than a breath, but it was unmistakably <em>there</em>.</p><p>“Daddy-“</p><p>Right after it slipped out, the demon hid his face against Barbara’s neck in an uncharacteristic coy gesture (during the aforementioned heaping amounts of sex, they had dabbled into kinky territory more than once and Beej had never reacted like this) and his walls tightened more around Adam’s fingers.</p><p>Before either of them could react, the demon shuddered, and the added “Mommy-“ in a warm breath tickling over Barbara’s skin.</p><p> </p><p>While they had been alive, their friends had always joked they knew each other so well, it was like they could communicate telepathically. Now that they actually could talk telepathically, Adam sometimes fancied them as almost like an invincible super-couple (not that he would ever say that out loud, unless he was in the mood for being teased relentlessly not only by Beetlejuice but by Barbara as well). Now, it really came in handy.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is… this a joke? Do you think he’s faking this, for the fun of it?’ Barbara’s voice asked in his head.</p><p>‘Judging by the way his arousal just skyrocketed, I don’t think so.’ He replied, while lapping up more precome from the now slightly gaping slit.</p><p>‘<em>Fuck me</em>, that’s hot.’</p><p>Adam’s lips curled into a brief grin around Beej’s erection at his Babs’ blunt statement. It was really hot. He was still Adam, though, so naturally, he worried. ‘Do we… roll with it?’</p><p> </p><p>Instead of answering, Barbara opened her mouth directly against the demon’s ear. “Does that feel so good, Bee? Are Mommy and Daddy making you feel so good?”</p><p>The words sounded slightly foreign on her tongue, but also spiked hot arousal in Adam’s crotch. He hadn’t… they hadn’t…. it wasn’t something that had ever even crossed his mind.</p><p>If anything, he’d wager that it would have happened the other way around, as the demon had referred to himself jokingly as “Daddy” back when they first met.</p><p>But now it was here, and it was <em>different</em> and he couldn’t deny that he liked it or that he loved what it seemed to do with Beetlejuice.</p><p> </p><p>Beej let out a broken sound that was utterly raw and incredibly erotic. “Y-yes, Mommy-“</p><p>And Barbara held him closer while his body seemed to quake in anticipation of his rapidly approaching orgasm, her own arousal now undeniably pressed against his back.</p><p>“You make Mommy and Daddy feel so good, too. So good, Bee-“ Her voice wavered slightly and Adam didn’t need to look up to know she had started touching herself.</p><p>Instead, he pried his hand gently out of Beej’s grip and wrapped it around his erection and started stroking it with a loose grip, while redoubling his efforts, tounging the rigid hot flesh and stretching the quivering hole.</p><p>Beej threw his head back and moaned, loudly, all coyness vanishing in favor of undeniable pleasure.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, they were all only seconds away from coming. This was supposed to be about Beetlejuice, though, and he would be damned if he came before his lover did.</p><p>With great effort, Adam pulled off his demon’s erection, but let the tip rest lightly against his lower lip. His fingers worked relentless inside of Beetlejuice, massaging the tender nub of his prostate with the pad, while scissoring them to hold him open in a way he knew Beetlejuice loved. He felt the entrance flutter around his knuckles. The demon’s body was taught like a string and shaking all over, only Barbara’s strong grip around his chest keeping him from arching completely off the bedsheet.</p><p>When Adam spoke, his voice was scratchy from disuse and his throat felt a little raw, but the words were clear and caused the demon to orgasm violently, right before he and Barbara did:</p><p>“Come on Daddy’s face, baby.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Soft Pastel Pink</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unlike most things concerning Beetlejuice, it did not remain something purely sexual for very long. It had a funny way of showing itself, too.</p><p>Dying had done wonders for the Maitland’s general fear of commitment, so they found themselves plenty of hobbies in their afterlife. The biggest project to date was Adam’s model of the town- an abundance of houses, tress, shops, and other general things to be found around Winter River. It played in well with Lydia’s passion for photography. Babs admired her husband in these moments of total focus while he was carving- and had to admit he got pretty good at it.</p><p>She herself had been spending more time with Delia lately, so naturally she had taken up more artsy crafts like painting, sculpting, and- drumroll- pottery. When realizing what actually went into the craft when you gave it an honest try, the ghost felt like her former verdict had been too harshly. Turns out, pottery wasn’t half bad if you did it right.</p><p> </p><p>On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, she spun the wheel with the reckless determination of a beginner with too much confidence, working the nimble clay with wettened fingers. She had a <em>vision</em>. She would make a bowl. A decorative bowl. A pretty little thing. To put olives in. Or maybe bugs. She wasn’t picky, as long as things were <em>displayed</em> in it.</p><p>She was lost in her artistic vision, barely registering that Adam left the attic to help Lydia with her history homework. Somewhere between his departure and the given moment, Beetlejuice had shuffled into the room, plonking himself down quietly next to her.</p><p>The rim of her green dress ruffled against his thigh, when he pressed it lightly against hers. He was tactile like that. Barbara used to call it ‘needy’, but now that she knew Beej better, she understood that he got a sense of grounding being physically close to his “safe” people. Like her, or Adam, or Lydia (and, slowly but surely, Charles and Delia, too).</p><p>It had become a compliment, more than anything else.</p><p> </p><p>They said nothing for a while, Barbara lost in the progress of her bowl, and Beetlejuice at a loss of what was displayed before him.</p><p>“What are you <em>doing</em>?” he finally asked, voice a little loud in the quiet room (inside voice? Never heard of her). The potter in training gave a little flinch, which caused her thumb to slip and the rim of her bowl to bend. It added character, she immediately decided, not letting this little slip-up halt her determination.</p><p>“Making art,” she declared with an air of mystery that reminded her suddenly so much of Delia that she suppressed a little snort. She slowed the wheel, content with the shape of her olives and/or bugs bowl.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry to disappoint, hot stuff, but that looks like the afterbirth of a sheep.”</p><p>Barbara toyed a split second with the temptation to ask him how he would know how that looked like, but she stopped herself. They had learned the hard way to not initiate any conversations which they couldn’t stomach in their entirety, for Beetlejuice would sure as heck not censor them for their sake.</p><p>“Excuse you!” she said instead and shoved her lover good-naturedly with her clay-stained fingers. The stains were barely visibly on his dirty suit jacket.  </p><p> </p><p>“You don’t have sense for art.” Barbara then added, smoothing the edges of her first creation. Which did not look like a placenta, please and thank you.</p><p>“Do, too!” Beej replied childishly. “I guided an artist once. The one, with the sunflowers and the ear-“</p><p>“You met Van Gogh? Was he nice?”</p><p>“Dunno. Don’t speak Dutch.”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“Seemed happy to be reunited with his ear, though. It waited for him, you know-“</p><p>Barbara held up one finger. “I’ve just decided that I really don’t want to know.”</p><p>The demon mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “Maybe YOU don’t have a sense for art, then.” Which Barbara ignored out of the kindness of her heart.</p><p> </p><p>She also swatted his grabby fingers away from touching her bowl, ‘tsk’-ing at him, but gave him a little peck right after his hair began to be streaked with the faintest violet.</p><p>They had learned that Beej didn’t like to be kept out of stuff; he was so eager to be involved, and always just a little devastated when he wasn’t allowed to participate in something. Should she risk a guess, Barbara would probably attest it to an upbringing filled with neglect and an existence dominated by rejection, but she was careful not to open that particular can of worms (not least because she still felt guilty for participating in one of the two).</p><p>She had gotten pretty good with interpreting her lover’s hair, if she said so herself, even scribbled down a little color-chart in one of her notebooks, grouping the color-schemes to the different categories of emotions. Greens were generally connected to happiness (ranging from a muted jade when he was content to a bright neon when he was excited), blues to sadness, reds to anger, purples to upset, greys to insecurity, whites to fear.</p><p>Naturally, there were still a couple of question marks for colors that had not yet shown up so frequently, like dusty orange, bright yellow and pitch black. But generally, Barbara felt confident that she had figured the pattern out.</p><p>Beej had denied he even had that many emotions, but she had suspicions that he glanced in it from time to time, too, when he was unsure of what he was feeling. They knew he was struggling with having emotions in general and voicing them was an even bigger issue. The hair and the chart helped, somewhat.</p><p> </p><p>“You could try, too, you know. I doubt I know any of your hobbies…”</p><p>“Hobbies? Babs, I don’t have time for hobbies, I’m a full-time demon! That’s a hard job, no breaks, always on duty!” To proof how much of a big, bad demon he was, he hovered above her and puffed his chest out. The ghost just rolled her eyes at his antics.</p><p> </p><p>Ever since he had showed up at their doorstep, with a sullen expression and a hopeful twinkle in his eyes, he had not been to or even heard of the Netherworld. From time to time, he would slip the words “ban” and “Juno’” into the conversation, but they were too polite to prod. He would tell them, in his own time, and even if that was never, they were just content that he was with them.</p><p> </p><p>“Besides, this looks boring,” he added with a shrug in the bowl’s direction. Barbara felt offended on its behalf, but let it slide.</p><p>Instead, she let her gaze wander around the attic for something else she could occupy her demon with, so she could continue to work in peace. She stopped at the corner with all the different paints and the tree-figurines, which Adam hadn’t gotten around to color. She considered them for a long moment, before she caught his dirty shoe and pulled him down to ground-level again.</p><p>“Well, in case you can find some time to take from your <em>terribly</em> busy schedule, Mr. Bioexorcist, I bet Adam would appreciate you helping him out a little with his coloring.”</p><p>Beetlejuice plopped down next to her with the grace of a wet potato sack and eyed the coloring equipment warily.  </p><p>“My help?” he echoed, like the concept was foreign to him, with anything that didn’t involve scaring people (it probably was).</p><p> </p><p>“I dunno, Babs,” he added as if he was suddenly shy. He worried the lapels of his suit jacket between his fingers. “I wouldn’t want to ruin it. I’m not exactly known for making pretty things.”</p><p>Barbara looked at him closely, unaccustomed to the timid attitude. It wasn’t like Beetlejuice to admit he wasn’t good at something; he literarily would sever his foot before admitting that (had done so, in the past). He usually just jumped into things with reckless determination, even more enthusiastic if said things involved making messes (like painting was known for).</p><p>Something about him was…. different that afternoon. Although she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. Only that he looked…. Softer around the edges, somehow.</p><p>“Nonsense,” she said, but her voice was warm and gentle, like the rays of sunlight filtering through the dusty attic windows.</p><p> </p><p>Beej looked at her and her dead heart gave a little jump in her chest. She combed her fingers through his tousled hair, which had turned into an aquarelle of greens, and purples, and pinks (and russet, from the clay). Pink, she had decided long ago, was her absolute favorite, because it meant that Beej felt loved.</p><p>“I’m sure you’ll be the best helper.”</p><p>Part of her had expected for him to snort, to brush off the words of praise, maybe even sneer that she was treating him like some child.</p><p>But none of those things happened.</p><p>Beetlejuice just sat there and let her pet his hair, a tiny smile playing around his lips. When she stopped, he teleported the figurines and painting equipment over to them, and settled himself against Barbara, with his back pressed up to her side. Unable to stop herself, she dropped a kiss against his shoulder, before getting back to her own project.</p><p> </p><p>It has been about an hour of friendly work-filled silence, and also, probably the longest she had witnessed Beej be quiet, not fidgeting, and awake at the same time. Scratch that, the <em>longest</em> she ever witnessed Beej being quiet and still, his snores could wake the dead (literarily).</p><p>After the first shaky minutes of clumsy paint mixing and awkward brush holding, Beetlejuice had gotten the hang of painting pretty quickly.</p><p>To think that he never experienced something so simple and so joyful made the ghost inexplicitly sad, and she instantly wondered what other things Beej hadn’t been allowed to do in his centuries-long existence. She decided then and there that she would make it her personal goal to do one simple and joyful thing with Beetlejuice at least once a day.</p><p> </p><p>The expression of sheer pride on his paint-smeared face when he presented his little pine-tree was something that would keep Barbara warm on a cold winter day (figuratively, she didn’t feel temperature anymore). He radiated joy in a way she rarely experienced, his hair a vibrant pastel green that put the tiny tree to shame. He had taken forever, granted, but he had also been careful in a way she rarely seen him be- like he genuinely wanted to make the tree look as good as possible, to please her and Adam.</p><p>It was cute and pure, in an unexpected kind of way, and Barbara was gripped with a wild flash of affection for her demon. So, she leaned in to kiss his nose, right next to a long stripe of dark green paint.</p><p>Elevated by his success, the demon dove right back in, this time devoting all his attention to a fir. Barbara was genuinely baffled by Beej’s enthusiasm for the tree-figurines, even as she was finishing the second olives/bugs bowl to go into the burner. Right was she was rubbing the left-over clay residue from her hands Beetlejuice spoke for the first time in almost 90 minutes.</p><p>And there it was.</p><p> </p><p>“Mommy, look! This one’s even better than the first!”</p><p>The ghost swallowed her surprised gasp like a champ, not wanting to break the tenderness of the moment which just unfolded between them.</p><p>They had discussed <em>it</em> the second they had woken up from their post-coital nap when it had first happened. Naturally, only Adam and Barbara were discussing it, Beetlejuice kept himself stoically out of the matter. It was tiring, and sort of infuriating, but they came to the consensus to just let him be (he was throwing a grand old sulk on the roof whenever they even mentioned it), and tried to come to terms with it on their own, meanwhile. While it was a foreign concept to them, they both were not revolved by it in the slightest, and wouldn’t mind to indulge again, should the opportunity arise.</p><p>It hadn’t.</p><p>Until now, it hadn’t.</p><p>But now it was <em>different</em>.</p><p> </p><p>While regarding the painted fir (it was, indeed, better than the pine. Kind of sloppy, still, but that added character), Barbara’s mind was racing several miles per hour, wrapping her head around the concept that they had thought about <em>it </em>on completely misguided premises.</p><p>It still held care and vulnerability, but unlike her previous assumption, these sentiments weren’t limited to sexual activities. Now, in the broad daylight with all their clothes on and the soft sounds of birds just outside the window, the title seemed so much more intimate than when they had been doing the dirty between the sheets.</p><p>A momentary rush of panic seized through her, a wet, cold fear that this was bigger than they anticipated and maybe they- she- weren’t- wasn’t- a match for what Beej needed. Old doubts seeped into her heart, all this dreadful hesitation, all these anxieties of never being enough for the demands of the world.</p><p>Her gaze flickered to the bowl and she remembered them all too well, these comments about ceramics only being a manifestation of motherly panic, and she swallowed around the stone in her throat. This, this right here, was blank, excruciating motherly panic. And it was stupid, and it was irrational, but it was <em>real </em>and numbed her for a few seconds.</p><p>Beetlejuice wanted a Mommy. A Mommy and a Daddy. They weren’t that, they hadn’t been that, they would never be able to be that-</p><p> </p><p>The demon sensed her hesitation, for his face crumpled the tiniest bit and he lowered the hand where he kept the figurine tightly clutched. As if suddenly realizing what he had said, he tilted his head to the side and lowered his eyes, a sickly gray and sad blue creeping into his hair. Barbara knew gray and she hated it with a burning passion, enough that it snapped her out of her negative thoughts.</p><p>To hell with her anxieties, she- they- were past running away from challenges just out of the fear of doing something wrong! She <em>was</em> Barbara 2.0, and this Barbara was not letting her baby (now, where did <em>that</em> come from? She didn’t dwell on it) loose himself in self-doubt; not on her watch!</p><p> </p><p>With this newfound determination, she cupped Beej’s cheeks (willing her hands to stop shaking) and titled his head until they were eye-to-eye. And then she smiled, her brightest smile, and brushed her thumb affectionately against the dried brown paint in his beard.</p><p>“Well done, baby! You did a great job, Beej.”</p><p>The effect was instantaneous, a pastel pink seeping into the wild mop of hair starting from the root like somebody had poured some beautiful paint over it, and Barbara felt more than saw the warm blush against her palms.</p><p>The vice around her ribcage loosened.</p><p>They would be alright.</p><p>They <em>were </em>alright.</p><p> </p><p>Adam chose this exact moment to enter the scene, arms full of history books.</p><p>“Looks like my two favorite undead entities were having fun without me,” he commented with a warm smile.</p><p>When the expected lewd comment by Beetlejuice about what kind of fun never came, he sat the books down at their writing desk and pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose, frowning a little.</p><p> </p><p>The demon was beaming at him, but he also looked weirdly…. Shy? Beej was never shy, not unless…? But no, this wasn’t a sexy scenario. His eyes darted to Barbara, searching for an explanation. He only heard her voice in his head, thanks to their telepathic connection: ‘Just roll with it, please? We’ll talk about it later.’</p><p>Before Adam had a chance to ask what exactly ‘it’ was, Beej answered the question for him.</p><p> </p><p>“I helped your trees, Daddy! Mommy says I did great.”</p><p>Adam’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, otherwise he kept the surprise off his face. Certainly not how he imagined <em>it</em> making another appearance, but with Beetlejuice, hardly anything went as imagined. In two long steps, he was in front of his two partners all huddled together on the sun-warm wooden floor and crouched down to get a better look at Beej’s masterpiece.</p><p>The trees were fine, but knowing that Beetlejuice had painted them for him made them absolutely perfect. Next only to the pure hopeful excitement on the demon’s paint-speckled face when he watched him watch the trees.</p><p>Something about him was so…so… innocent in that moment, it was unreal. Beetlejuice wasn’t…he never had been innocent. Quite the contrary, being the ghost with the most and all that.</p><p>But right now, he just was a happy little guy (Adam paused and wondered where that particular adjective came from, but it struck him as the only one truly fitting) who could be proud for helping his partner… his Daddy?</p><p>Adam swallowed discreetly, wishing he had dabbled more in the kink-territory when he had been alive. College was a wild time for most, but he usually fled the scene when it had gotten a little bit more… unusual. He remembered a friend telling him about another friend who dabbled in… age-play, Adam thought it had been called; but the memory was blurry like most things he tried to remember from his life which didn’t involve Barbara.</p><p>He mostly remembered scenarios they had planned for but would never be able to execute, these days.</p><p>But things were good, finally.</p><p>They had a wonderful stepdaughter in Lydia.</p><p>And they had this.</p><p>It wasn’t like the child they had secretly both longed for, despite the assurances to wait. It wasn’t like this it all. Thinking about it, even for a little while, made depression claw painfully at Adam’s insides.</p><p>But this was then.</p><p>And now it was different.</p><p>They had this, and whatever it was, it was good.</p><p> </p><p>He would have to do research. <em>They</em> would have to do research. And <em>talk</em> about it. Beej would hate talking about it more than he already did.</p><p>But for now, he would just roll with it. Adam 2.0!</p><p>“They look incredible, …” ‘Baby,’ Barbara supplied in his head. “… baby.”</p><p>The demon preened under the praise. Adam smiled at him, despite the chaos of his thoughts. How a dirty, foul-mouthed, scary demon like Beetlejuice could be cute, Adam would never know, but he pulled it off fairly well. So well, in fact, that Adam didn’t fight the sudden urge to ruffle his hair, which caused the demon to give a startled little laugh. The sound was bright in the otherwise quiet room.</p><p>“Do you want to place them in the model right now?” Adam asked, a distant part of his mind asking why the hell he seemed to be so good at this stuff.</p><p> </p><p>He held out his hand for Beej to take, but his lover hesitated, fangs slightly piercing his lower lip. His eyes darted from Adam’s hand, to his trees, to Adam’s model.</p><p>“Are they pretty enough to go in the model?”</p><p>It wasn’t the question per se but the <em>tone</em>, which held something so vulnerable and so unsure that hot anger flashed in his veins at anyone- especially themselves- who had ever hurt the demon. Barbara made a little noise, undoubtedly echoing the sentiment</p><p>“Of course, they are,” she then whispered gently, kissing Beej’s temple. “I told you, you’re the best helper.”</p><p>“She’s right, lovebug.” He had come up with that one himself in the split of a second and judging by the way his lover’s whole body lit up, he had made the right call.</p><p>“C’mon,” he waved his hand a little for emphasis, and this time Beej took it, letting himself be manhandled easily.</p><p> </p><p>The trees were placed in the forest area near the hill of their house, all under the attentive gaze of Beetlejuice, who hadn’t let go of Adam’s hand.</p><p>“There. Perfect!” the ghost announced, genuinely happy to have a part of his lover within his project. Glancing at their entwined hands- the pale, colorful hand with the neon nail polish (curtesy of one of Lydia’s and Beetlejuice’s infamous “girls night!”s, he was pretty sure) a stark contrast to his own rough, calloused, slightly tanned one. Like this, it was shockingly easy to fall into the role he only barely begun to understand. He hadn’t been ready to be a Dad but… this wasn’t the same thing. Not even a little bit. He didn’t know what exactly it was… but… it settled like a blanket around his dead heart.</p><p>“I’m proud of you, Beej,” Adam added, almost as an afterthought.</p><p>“We are,” Barbara chimed in, coming up behind them and taking Beej’s other hand in hers.</p><p>The demon’s eyes grew comically wide. “Really? Nobody’s ever been proud of me.” He paused, as if thoughtful, and produced an extra arm from… somewhere, to touch his chest where his heart would have been. “Feels warm. Here.”</p><p>Adam’s throat closed up. They stood there a little while longer, just holding hands.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks,” the demon than murmured, somehow sounding more like himself than he had before. His expression had lost some of its child-like gleam.</p><p>He barely met their eyes, but opened his mouth to say something else- when Lydia’s voice travelled up to the attic: “BJ, you coming? There’s this new ridiculous ghost hunting channel on YouTube, and I desperately want to make fun of it with you!”</p><p>And just like that, the spell was broken completely.</p><p> </p><p>Beej shook his head a little, as if he had to come to himself first, the pastel pink fading rapidly.</p><p>“Don’t start without me, Lyds!” he called to his best friend, but his eyes rested on the Maitlands for a few seconds longer, before darting to the place where his trees were located in the model. He looked suddenly uncomfortable, probably even a little ashamed, but there was a grateful sparkle in his eyes. He smirked towards the model and then he was gone.</p><p>Adam and Barbara looked at each other and shared a shaky smile.</p><p>This certainly was something else.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Returns after several months of absence without any continuation of her other fics but with a completely new age-play universe of a literal dead musical? That's me, babes!</p><p>So.<br/>The lack of age-play in the Beetlejuice fandom is frankly upsetting to me. Y'all missing opportunities.<br/>Well I'M NOT.</p><p>Part 1 of a multi-part series.<br/>**<br/>Leave kudos and a comment, I love to gush about Beetlejuice Headcanons and generally all things Beetlejucie &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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